DerekC
Established Member
"Railways of Hertfordshire" - inherited from my dad - lists and has sketch maps of a lot of 19thC railway schemes which might have happened but didn't in that part of England. Many of them are variations on routes which did get built eventually, or branches which would have been closed long ago if they had.
The one that hits me as a lost opportunity is the "Tring and Reigate Railway" of 1845. The route is Tring, Chesham, Beaconsfield, Farnham Royal, Slough, Egham, Staines, Chertsey, Weybridge, Cobham, Leatherhead, Dorking, Reigate. (Some fairly serious civil engineering involved!)
I can only say wow! What a pity - it would have been just what we need now for all sorts of reasons - access to Heathrow, Route to Channel Tunnel -- the list is endless.
Does anyone know more about it, or know of any other schemes like this which would really have made a difference to the network map?
The one that hits me as a lost opportunity is the "Tring and Reigate Railway" of 1845. The route is Tring, Chesham, Beaconsfield, Farnham Royal, Slough, Egham, Staines, Chertsey, Weybridge, Cobham, Leatherhead, Dorking, Reigate. (Some fairly serious civil engineering involved!)
I can only say wow! What a pity - it would have been just what we need now for all sorts of reasons - access to Heathrow, Route to Channel Tunnel -- the list is endless.
Does anyone know more about it, or know of any other schemes like this which would really have made a difference to the network map?